Complacency fuels underage drinking

As we approach the dangerous summer season, a time when the number of teen fatalities rises, let's make time to rally in defense of youth.

Too often adults fail kids because of a complacency about underage drinking.

In the recent past, senseless prom night tragedies with drinking and driving leading to tragic, fatal consequences have occurred too many times across the country.

Sadly, we've heard it all before.

The good news is that some things have changed. Almost systematically, more progressive schools have ramped up education and enforcement efforts, instituting everything from awareness assemblies to Breathalyzer exams, fortunately focusing not just on prom but, necessarily, on all types of school events and activities. But, educators can do only so much.

That's where the bad news comes in.

Across the land there is a concerning complacency among many adults, including parents of teens themselves. Indeed, many communities have a not-so-subtle culture of ignoring, accepting, or even facilitating underage drinking, leaving parents divided, school officials exasperated, and kids at risk.

Underlying the malaise are three myths that perpetuate the epidemic that is underage drinking.

1. The Myth of Improbability: Other kids may be drinking alcohol, but mine isn't. Fact: Compared to what their parents say about them, high school students are eight times more likely to say they use alcohol.

2. The Myth of Inevitability: Kids are going to drink no matter what (more than half of parents believe this, according to SADD's Teens Today research). Fact: More than one in three teens say they have never even tried alcohol.

3. The Myth of Irrelevancy: Teenagers don't listen to what their parents have to say. Fact: Parents are the number one reason why teens make good choices, especially those who initiate dialogue, establish expectations, and enforce consequences.

Many young people say that their parents know they attend parties where underage drinking is taking place. And more than one quarter of parents say adults in their area allow older teens to drink alcohol in their homes if the teens aren't going to be driving.

Of course, kids and cars are only part of the problem. Adults who subscribe to this myth also seem to assume that impaired driving is the only danger associated with underage drinking. In truth, many kids die nowhere near an automobile, victims of acute alcohol intoxications, asphyxiations, assaults, accidents, and drownings.

In King Lear, William Shakespeare wrote, "You will gain nothing if you invest nothing."

And such is the case regarding underage drinking. It's time we rally in defense of our kids.